Work on Main Street Tower to begin at Beach

Updated:March 1, 2013 - 2:24 pm

Posted:March 1, 2013

Armada Hoffler will break ground on the new 749,000-square-foot Main Street Tower on block 11 of Virginia Beach Town Center on Monday, March 11.

A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. with Gov. Bob McDonnell and Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms.

The project, known as the fifth phase of Town Center, will have nine floors of office space totaling 174,000 square feet, 288 apartments, 18,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor and a 950-space parking garage.

The office tower is expected to open in the summer of 2014 with the apartments becoming available in the fall, according to a press release from Clark Nexsen PC, an architect and engineering firm based in Norfolk.

Clark Nexsen is designing the building and will relocate its offices and 350 employees, occupying 80,000 square feet in the new building. The average salary of a Clark Nexsen employee is $75,000.

The firm of Cox Kliewer is heading the design of the apartments and Armada Hoffler, based in Town Center, is developing and constructing the project.

Total private investment in the project is expected to cost $70.4 million. Public investment is expected to be $18 million, according to project documents. The city has agreed to construct the parking garage.

The Virginia Beach Economic Development Department, located in the Armada Hoffler Tower, will move to the new tower and occupy one floor.

Hampton University College of Virginia Beach will expand within the former economic development department space at 222 Park Ave. to occupy a total of 40,056 square feet. The college plans to offer 55 additional courses in nursing, education, aviation engineering, international studies, general studies, hotel/restaurant management and religious studies.